Students from the North Memphis Frayser community came together Friday morning to advocate for funding to combine the area’s two high schools into one new school.
Currently Trezevant High School and public charter school MLK Preparatory High School (formally Frayser High School) serve the community. Frayser High School was built in 1949 and Trezevant was built in 1960.
Students attending Friday’s press conference in the Trezevant High School Library said combining the two schools into a new Frayser High School would expand educational opportunities to STEM programs (science, technology, engineering, math) and other technology courses.
“This is our home, and we want to be able to educate right here with the right tools. We don’t wanna have to go outside our neighborhood to take courses like health science, STEM, and culinary arts to name a few. We know that building a new school will provide more opportunities to take advanced classes,” said rising Trezevant sophomore Trenton Watson.
Other students argued the combined school would bring athletic improvements that currently aren’t available at either existing school.
Sophomore baseball player Terrion Taylor told the crowd students deserve better facilities and equipment.
“I know that a new school will work with some of the scholars that want to be athletes and help them build something better. We are asking for better equipment for all sports and to ask for better facilities in the new school to help improve in that sport. What a field looks like to me is I don’t have to constantly go up and down the field to put down dirt or find a chair to sit in so I can cheer on my fellow baseball players when I’m not playing,” said rising sophomore and baseball player Terrion Taylor.
There have been calls for a new school in the Frayser community for years, but discussions really began to ramp up 2020. In April, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris included a proposal to use some of the county’s spending capital to fund a new high school in the Frayser community in his budget request.
If the funding is approved by Shelby County, Trezevant High School and MLK Prep will be combined, and the new high school will be the first new school for the district in over ten years. The partnership between the district and a charter school would officially open Frayser High School in 2027.
“This is about the kids. The adults have the mastermind behind it, the kids are our future,” said board member Stephanie Love.
Some of the biggest supporters of the plan are kids including Westside Middle School six grader Alex Turner. He wants to be an astronaut but feels existing schools don’t offer the technology to reach that goal.
Turner would be among the first students to attend the new high school if approved.
“How I feel about the new school would be like, it would give (me) more opportunities for both my dreams of being an astronaut and also being an engineer. So that’s actually what I expect from the new school and how I feel if it has it,” said Turner.
Other students attending Friday’s press conference argued the new school would also be beneficial for Frayser itself.
Trezevant sophomore Rickuy Wright said the school will help with negative perceptions about the Frayser community and showcase the positive.
“Yes, we were chosen. But when it came to it, we created these ourselves, really. We helped each other and all we’re saying is really our thoughts when we were chosen to do this. We heard about it, but then we put our full effort into it. We truly do want this funding for a new school. We truly want to see this community grow. We truly wanna see students get better education and such. So everything you hear is from us,” said Wright.
